#rabbleEye: Wally Cassidy

We asked the street photographer for a few words. Here’s what he had to say…

I used to do a lot of street photography back then and you’d go wherever the big crowd was really.

The market, the GPO – there was always republican protests on there, Dessie Ellis that kind of thing. Robert Capa, Elliot Erwitt sparked my interest of course but it was really Podge O’Farrell.

He took a photo of me when I was hanging around Stephen’s Green with the punk rockers, he gave me a print and it went from there. I took shots of the punks and it was a way of getting into gigs free, Deco from Paranoid Visions would get me in with the camera. Myself, Podge and John Kelly would get the dole on Tuesday then hit the streets, taking pictures wherever the crowds were. I never thought they’d be looked at again never mind becoming so popular 20 years on.